Review of The Red Ranger Becomes an Adventurer in Another World

“The Red Ranger Becomes an Adventurer in Another World” is what happens when a wacky idea meets generic writing. The show starts off pretty cool. Something wacky, over the top and with a lot, I mean A LOT, of potential. It ends as a boring, stale, “you’ve seen it a million times”, generic isekai. Shame, but after the disappointments of the last decade I really shouldn’t be surprised. Before we start I would like to explain something. I will be talking about “plot” and “story”. Many people use those terms interchangeably. I’m not one of those people, so to make sure everyone is on the samepage…
I use the definitions for “plot” and “story” as Lisa Cron describes them:
“What happens in the story is the PLOT, the surface events.”
“STORY is about how the things that happen affect someone in pursuit of a difficult goal, and how that person changes internally as a result”.

Let’s be honest. Anyone who knows anime, light novels and some cheap movies, could tell from episode one what kind of protag we get. Every damn time when I see an MC (this time it’s Red) who is OP AF, is optimistic and acts like a try hard comic relief, he also has a tragic, generic, sad backstory. Especially if that MC is a comic relief despite bringing in an objectively shitty situation. If you didn’t get that at the very most episode 3, You are either new to anime, or You’re a damn liar. The thing is, his backstory didn’t make me sympathize with him, it made me just despise the organization (Yes, I will call it an organization, they have their own HQ and at least one R&D wing with at least one personnel so it’s not like it’s a bunch of kinds in a tree house),he is working for — The Kizuna Five. But I’ll get to that.

So yeah, the story… there is none. Seriously. Red just rolls with whatever the wind blows his way (is that the saying? I’m not sure). By the time we see Red in the new world it has already been 6 months after his transportation. He became an adventurer that just does jobs to survive. That’s it. It is stated in the very first episode that he spent time searching for a way to get back home right after he arrived and that he saw probably most of the world and witnessed people's plight. Ok, fine. Give me that. That sounds like a much better story than the crap this show serves for the next 12 episodes. I want to see a protagonist that has a goal and is motivated to achieve it. I don’t want to see him as a passive, optimistic comic relief. I want a proper protagonist with a proper story, not another passive moron. And don’t give me that “It’s a parody so it doesn’t need a story or logic”, eff off, just eff off. If You really think that then You probably never experienced a proper parody or satire (they are not the same) in Your life.

If You’re expecting the plot will pick up the slack… it does… in the last two episodes. Before that You get 10 episodes of absolute cliché. There is not one original thought in this show. Now, that alone isn’t such a big problem, a lot of anime use cliché ideas, it all depends on the execution of those ideas and this show… well… on one side it actually fits the super sentai vibe, on the other it just adds to the flatness and no stake state of the whole show. You have to defeat a giant monster? Use a giant robot with a giant sword. You have to defeat another giant monster but can’t use the giant robot? Use a giant gun. You need to kick the ass of powerful, human size enemies? Punch it in the face. You need to take care of two uber powerful enemies at the same time? Use a powerup that was stuck up Your ass for the whole time. You see a pattern? Every enemy is taken care of by brute force and nothing else, even if that makes little sense. But You know… the power of friendship is definitely powered by violence.

In the spirit of super sentai / power rangers Red has access to a giant robot. You know the type, the type that is created by combining 5 smaller robots that are piloted by other members of the team. The problem? Why the fuck Red can use it solo? He can summon all five robots and combine them at will. No need for other people with morphers. He can summon any one of them. We see him summon red and blue on their own. If he can use it solo why the fuck have a whole team? One person would be easier to control than 5 so it would be easier for their bosses to have a powerful weapon on a tight leash. Apart from fighting mobs there is no point in having a 5 member team if just one is enough to use the most powerful weapon. Give me some kind of explanation for that.
On the subject of robots. He can summon them. His team back home is aware of the fact that the robots were deployed and yet… not one of those morons thought of... I don’t know… leaving a fucking note in the cockpit? A simple sticky note with the words “Hey, Red are You ok?” in the middle of a damn controler? No? Just me? Ok. I can believe Red hasn't thought of that, he is a moron, but others? Blue seems to be smart and yellow is a damn teacher. Guess despite having advanced robots and weapons at their disposal a sticky note is beyond their technology tree. They could communicate in that way and at least try to solve the isekai problem.

I’m not sure if Red is dumber than I thought, is suicidal (well… he is but that’s another things) or just brain washed but Kizuna 5 team is more than just a little villainous. I mean… they use kids as soldiers. Not only that but Red has clearly PTSD and it seems not one person on his FIVE people team thought that maybe he should get some off time for therapy? It’s not like the morphers can be used only by one person. They are recruited from the population so anyone can use them, why don’t they have 2-3 full size teams that rotate the use of the morphers? That way everyone can get proper debriefing, psychological help and some much needed time off. Red lost his parents, the girl he probably had a crush on died basically in his arms and Kizuna 5 did jack shit for him. I would understand this if it was a case of “Only the chosen one can use this device”, but it’s not. Yeah… let’s have a traumatised kid with deadly weapons and WMD just hop back to situations that might induce more trauma. What can go wrong? Seriously these guys have some shitty bonds.

The best part of the show is Yihdra (the female lead). She starts out awesome. An idealistic, pretty naive mage with a boner for R&D. She wants to study Red’s power to create a new type of magic. I’m all for it. So why the fuck she drops it almost immediately after getting the quest from the princess? I get that without a proper lab her options are limited but even on the road she should be able to do some basic research. Over the whole show she does exactly one thing that could be interpreted as research and development and the damn thing works from the get go. No miscasts or failures. She’s such a wasted potential. A logical, methodical character turned a jealous girl in love. That’s just pathetic.
Remember when I said there is no story? That was half a lie. There is a story but not Red’s. The story mainly revolves around Yihdra and how she matures both as a woman and a mage. She sheds off some of her naivete and even learns to be honest with her feelings. Those are all good story beats. The problem? The show treats all of them as either after thought of just background.

That said, I can understand why some people would give this show a high score. It is almost like a love letter to both fantasy and super sentai. It uses a lot of cliches and tropes from both. From the power of friendship to get powerups, being used by royalty, getting sent on a fetch quest only to get more than You bargained for and gathering powerful allies like they are pokemon. Yes, they are cliches and I despise cliches but I understand that I’m in the minority on that front. If this show wasn’t so safe and sterile I would probably like it despite the bad writing.
But as it stands I only recommend the first and last 3 episodes. The rest is just boring stuff you saw a million times. At least it's not a harem.